


Reversed Fate

by Pilventekija



Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: Angst, Canon-Typical Violence, Depression, Emo, F/M, Hardcore punk, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Panic Attacks, Self-Harm, Slow Burn, band au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-11
Updated: 2020-08-11
Packaged: 2021-03-06 04:35:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,591
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25843690
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pilventekija/pseuds/Pilventekija
Summary: Valerie Gray felt suffocated juggling two lives; that of a normal teenager with school and a part-time job, and that of a masked ghost hunter. As a way to let off some steam, she returned to her drums and submitted a demo to an anonymous band looking for a new member.Soon she learned that the band consisted of her classmates Tucker and Sam, as well as Danny, who she used to date for a short time. She had broken up with him to protect him when her double life become too dangerous, but the feelings were never as easy to cut off.Valerie is not going to let Danny get hurt ever again, but the damned Phantom seems to follow him around wherever he goes. There has to be a way to kill it and to free Danny of the burden he's carrying. There has to be a way to reverse everyhing back to how it was, when they were still happy.
Relationships: Danny Fenton/Valerie Gray
Comments: 3
Kudos: 13





	1. Chapter 1

_“We are looking for a drummer!”_

The message was on a wrinkled paper and written with bad handwriting. Under the title was an e-mail address and a request to send a demo in it.

Valerie stopped to stare at it. The piece of paper was sticking out on a bulletin board full of colorful posters and advertisements. She has her backpack on one shoulder, the weight of it had started to ache. She had picked up cram school on top of her normal classes, so the number of the books she carried daily had only increased. She didn’t even have time for all of them, but she couldn’t fail any more courses.

Valerie ripped the paper off of the board and stuffed it in her pocket. She hurried along the hallway, she had places to be and no time to breathe.

Once, Valerie used to be pretty good with drumsticks and a set of cymbals. A year ago, when everything was different, she practiced drum solos every day. She used to enjoy the vibrations on the floor when she played, the loud sounds she could produce with so little effort. She used to enjoy life altogether.

It wouldn’t be a bad idea to pick up an old hobby. Maybe she could find something more she had lost. Maybe she wouldn’t feel like this as often. Just a moment of peace was all she wanted, honestly. She missed the feel of wood on her hands, the rush of endorphin that made her feel she was on top of the world.

Dad wasn’t home when she opened the door of their apartment with her keys. She knew it already but she couldn’t help but look for his shoes with her gaze when she entered. There were none. He had left a note on the table, the usual. She would cook for herself. Dad had added a heart on it and a promise to see her in the morning. Valerie picked up the note gently and folded it twice, then dropped it on the trash. Dad wouldn’t worry. Dad knew his little girl was safe, she would do her homework, eat and go to sleep. Valerie threw her backpack in her room, it hit the floor and the books flew out. It was a mess.

Valerie Gray, a ghost hunter, changed her clothes into sportswear and jumped to grab the bar. She lifted her body steadily with both hands until her arms were steel and her chin touched the bar. She flopped down and pulled herself up again, faster. With every pull-up her breathing become more ragged and the fire in her arms more painful. She wouldn’t stop until the bar slipped from her numb fingers and her body collapsed on the floor.

There must be some other ways to feel alive, too, Valerie thought while climbing on her feet. There must be people who didn’t feel these feelings she did. She had dealt with this alone as long as she could remember. Everything has only become worse after the cursed ghost boy showed up. Before it, she had had the sense of control. Now she had nothing but her pain and her weapons. She would kill the ghost and regain the things she had lost. Valerie gritted her teeth, curled her fingers into fists and then uncurled them, again and again and again with every breath until she was calm again.

There were only so many hours before nightfall. She had her training, school, cram school, homework and a part-time job. She had always something to do but she was still restless, still waiting for night to fall. Only when she could hover in the air, feet surely on her board, guns ready to shoot, she was alive. She couldn´t go on like this, she knew it, but there was nothing strong enough to distract her but the thrill of a battle, there was nothing she enjoyed anymore.

The message from earlier recurred to her mind. Valerie seriously didn’t have time to be a drummer in some random band, but the message offered her an excuse to pretend so. Precisely, it offered her an excuse to play again, were it only for one time. Just this once, Valerie promised herself, she would slack off. She was too exhausted and too restless to do her homework anyway.

Valerie Gray, a normal teenager, hauled her old drum set out of her closet, set her phone to recording and gave it her all.

\---

“Valerie Gray?! Are you fucking serious, Danny?” Sam pressed, hands folded, holding her ground. Danny saw only the hem of her checkered skirt when he lay on his back on Tucker’s bed, head hanging over the edge.

“Why not?” he muttered and let out a yawn. Tucker was in front of the computer as usual, clicking fervently, seemingly ignoring the scene in his room. He has his headphones on but Danny knew from experience that he listened to every word and was taking part in the conversation on his own way.

“We can’t have Valerie to be our drummer! She’ll kill you!” Sam fumed and sat down on the bed next to Danny. Her thigh was warm against his side even through layers of fabric. Sam poked Danny on the chest and he moved on the bed to lay more comfortably. He looked up at her, too tired to argue.

“She won’t learn my identity. We say to her that Phantom is just our mascot. We don’t have anything to do with him”, Danny explained sluggishly.

“She’s not stupid”, Sam clicked her tongue. “Is there anyone else?”

“Barely”, Tucker shrugged without tearing his eyes off the screen. “We got three candidates. Two of them are lousy and then there’s her. I got to say, Val isn’t bad at all. She’s got a sense of rhythm.”

“Besides, whoever it will be, there’s no saying they wouldn’t learn the truth. At least Val is someone we know. We can trust her, or predict her… She's reasonable”, Danny said.

“Reasonable?! She's obsessed, a psycho bitch! I don't want to have anything to do with her!” Sam snapped. Danny pushed himself up and leaned on the wall. He shot Sam a glance behind his overgrown black bangs.

“I dated her, you know.”

Sam clamped her mouth shut. She took a couple of few deep breaths and Danny saw an opportunity to close his eyes again.

“Look, the situation is that”, Tucker said from where he was sitting. “It's either her or then we don't have a drummer. We can kiss goodbye to live concerts. I've been saying it from the start, but-“

“They're not necessary”, Sam muttered and averted her gaze. “We don't do this for fame, or do we, now? We didn't start making music so we could play it in front of anyone.”

“We've already talked about this”, Danny sighed but was ignored by both of his friends.

“No, but people like it! They feel what we feel! That's a big step to become more understood. Danny wants that, right, buddy?” Tucker's eyes were fixed on the screen, but the hands hovering over the keyboard clenched.

“They will never understand, no matter how many views our songs get in Youtube! That's impossible! They're just fake, pretentious little brats! They know nothing about us!” Sam screamed, her violet nails dug into the bed's cover.

_“Stop! Just stop!”_ Danny's eyes flashed green.

Silence fell in the room, even the clicking of computer's mouse ceased. Danny let out a breath and blinked a few times.

“Can we just continue like planned, okay? Please, I don't want to repeat this conversation again.”

He was so tired. It was hard for him to explain why he wanted to do what he wanted, but he'd thought his friends were on the same page.

Sam nodded reluctantly.

“Fine. But we need to be extra careful if our drummer's going to be Valerie Gray”, she said firmly.

“And it's going to be her”, Tucker added. He went back to his scrolling. In his multiple screens were maps of Amity Park with moving red dots.

During the last few months, Tucker had created a system to track down any paranormal activity around town and every ghost hunter they knew of. It was linked to their PDAs so they got a notification of the ones nearby, as well as the class of the danger.

Every member of the trio carried a Fenton thermos as well as variety of other hidden weapons wherever they went. Sam and Tucker had become so skillful with ghost hunting they were capable of taking care of smaller ghosts on their own now. Danny's burden of keeping the town safe decreased the more they learn, but the portal was still open. They were on high alert all the time.

The stress of that forced them to look for an alternative, something else to think as a change of pace. For them, music was a way of escaping. It had started small but after a few composed piece, they had now a real band in their hands with a constantly growing fan base.

It had happened suddenly after Tucker had published their songs in YouTube. The music videos were an afterthought and Tucker had carelessly put together shaky, blurry footage of Phantom fighting other ghosts. They didn't advertise themselves in any way and the whole thing was supposed to stay away from the masses, but somehow, the Phantom was what made them go viral overnight.

As a cryptic, Phantom was known far outside Amity Park. Videos and theories of his origins were hot stuff in the depths of internet, so the band got noted and started spreading seconds after the first single was published.

As a hero of Amity, Phantom was even more popular. There wasn't one citizen who didn't know about him, only their reactions varied. Most of them loved him, few hated him with a passion. His biggest and most well-known antagonist was a ghost hunter called the Red Huntress, who was actually the one and only Valerie Gray.

No one knew the underground band's relation to Phantom. The popular opinion was that they were some unrelated people who just used the footage to gain more attention for their music. No one knew the truth but the trio.

Their band's name was Reversed. Two months after their first published song, that name was now known by every teenager in Amity Park.


	2. Chapter 2

It had took several emails back and forth with the band’s representative from Valerie to make an agreement when they would meet up. Valerie’s cram school and part-time job took up most of her free time, so they had ended up with Saturday evening.

The sun was already setting outside when Valerie made her way to the address given to her. It felt oddly familiar, and her premonitions were only confirmed when she arrived at the suburb she used to play as a kid. She had expected it to be someone’s house and not a studio because she was asked to enter from the back door, but she hadn’t expected it to be Tucker Foley’s house.

Valerie had never heard Foley having a band of any kind. She’d thought he was a total shut-in, so maybe it was good the kid had other hobbies besides video games. The revelation was somehow anticlimactic, however, and Valerie wondered for a moment if she should just turn around and forget about it.

But she had already made it this far and she was also a bit curious of what kind of music Foley and his bandmates played. If it was something crappy, she could walk out later. Valerie pushed her hands deep into the pockets of her jacket and circled the house to the back door.

\---

“We don’t have a regular training schedule, but we gather about twice or thrice a week when we have time”, Danny explained. “Just tell us when you can come and I’m sure we can make it.”

Valerie had half-guessed that if Foley had a band, other members had to be his best friends, Danny and Sam. The trio had been inseparable since their freshman year, apart from the short period of time when Valerie and Danny had been dating. Valerie was still friends with Danny, but she had never hung out with his friends that much.

“You’re too nice, Danny”, Valerie smiled. “I’m gonna mess up your whole schedule at this rate. I have a job, you know. I’m afraid I can’t come this often.”

“Then why did you come today?” Danny asked. Valerie glanced at his blue eyes, he was honestly curious.

For a second there Val was reminded of why she had fell in love with this guy in the first place. What she could have get, and what she had lost when she had ended their relationship. Even after everything, Danny was still considerate of her.

“I needed a break”, Val shrugged. It wasn’t a lie.

Danny nodded thoughtfully. They had all packed in the basement of the Foley household. It appeared to be an almost soundproof room, but not very spacious. Sam was sitting behind a set of drums, her back leaning on a wall, arms crossed. Tucker was slouching on a bean bag, fidgeting with his PDA. Val and Danny took up the only small couch the room had.

“We only need a drummer during live concerts”, Sam commented in somewhat annoyed tone from where she was sitting. Val snorted and waved her hand.

“Come on guys, aren’t you expecting too much? I don’t think you’ll have many chances besides, I dunno, school parties.”

“Just listen to this so you can play it”, Tucker interrupted and waved his PDA at her. “There’s a rhythm throughout the song. It’s steady but it ceases during the bridge and the third chorus. After that, a solo.”

He pressed play and music filled the spaces between them. There were only few tones of a guitar before aggressive drum kicked in. Valerie recognized the song immediately, it was one of those everyone in their school knew.

“Are you kidding me? That’s Rev’s song”, Val said and raised an eyebrow. “Are you playing other people’s-“

“It’s our song”, Sam cut her short.

“Um, what? It’s Reversed-“

“No one knows who they are, right? Do you?” Danny asked her. His voice was calm and oddly confident.

“No, I don’t”, Val began until her brain caught up. “Do you seriously think that I’ll believe you guys are Reversed? That super popular, underground band?”

“Believe it or not, we don’t care either way”, Tucker said. “But these are the songs we composed and will be playing. Do you still think that we wouldn’t be wanted as live performers?”

Val glanced around but Tucker had already turned his eyes back on his screen. Sam’s eyes were cold as ice and Danny was smiling gently.

“Are you in?” he asked.

Val was still reeling. She couldn’t believe that these three had wrote the powerful, painful music Reversed was known of. The music she had, too, listened night after night during her shift at Nasty Burger and before her patrol around the city. The songs that had made her feel alive when nothing else has.

She stared back at Danny’s blue eyes while he patiently waited for her answer. There weren’t even a hint of playfulness or deception in those eyes. If Danny was something, he was honest, and Val could always trust that.

“Of course I am in!”

\---

Valerie switched places with Sam and took the drumsticks. She tested out the beat and it felt familiar in her hands, like she had done it million times.

Tucker dragged a mixing console away from the wall and flopped in front of it. It was big and chunky and looked like he had modeled it himself. The desk had more switches and wires than a normal one and it had been hidden under a cloth. The pieces started to come together in Valerie’s head.

The electric melodies in Reversed songs were clearly created by Tucker and his devices. It wouldn’t be a problem for him to create a drum beat and use it in his compositions if they didn’t have a drummer.

Sam must be the singer, then. Valerie recalled Reversed vocalist’s hauntingly beautiful voice, their high notes and screams. It didn’t quite fit with what Valerie knew about Sam, though.

Tucker played with his mixing console and then signaled to Valerie. She nodded and took a better grip on her sticks, ready to start. They played together the same melody they had heard before from his PDA.

Soon the concentrated frown eased out from between Val’s brows. It was easier to keep up than she had thought. After doing the intro twice, Tucker let the song continue its route.

The music and the excitement hypnotized Valerie and she didn’t even notice it was time for singing to start.

_“Between the lies and the truth_

_I’m somewhere in between”_

Val snapped her head up. She struggled to keep up the beat when she realized that the familiar voice of the Reversed lead singer belonged not to Sam, but Danny.

He’d had stood up from the couch without a sound. He didn’t need a microphone when his voice filled the small room easily, echoing above the music. He didn’t need to sing at all, this was only practice for Val, but yet there he was standing in the middle of the room.

The voice flowing from his mouth was familiar to Val but strange, too, to hear live. How she hadn’t noticed it before? Maybe she had never heard Danny singing.

Valerie averted her gaze when their eyes met. Danny hit every note just like in their recorded version of the song, leaving no doubt that these three were really behind the internet sensation that was Reversed.

Valerie knew by heart every word of the song, every beat, and it was an euphoric moment to be here playing with them, creating the experience again from scratch. She put her heart on the line and gave it her best shot.

Danny sang through the first and the second chorus, Sam was sitting and nodding along. Tucker switched the instruments like he wanted with just a press of a button. Val noticed from the intensifying of the music that it was time for the bridge and hit the final beat.

The music quieted down abruptly and she waited what would happen next, she remembered this part, it always made chills ran up her spine. Surely Danny wouldn’t do the high part, surely it was computer generated.

_“Forgive me”_

Danny’s voice was a soft whisper.

_“Forgive me_

_I can’t love with only half of a heart”_

He had closed his eyes and Val could see his chest heaving in time with words. Danny inhaled, and at the same time when Tucker played his final lyrics again as an echo, he opened his mouth and let out a scream.

Valerie picked up the beat along with them, she had almost forgotten when staring at Danny. Danny’s wail pulsed through the music, it wasn’t loud but there was power in it, something that pierced right into Valerie and hitched her breath.

She could feel its vibrations on the floor, under her feet. Her drum set rattled, as well as Tucker’s mixing console. The basement’s ceiling light started to flicker, leaving them in the dark.

Danny blinked his eyes open. Some odd light reflected from them, Valerie thought they almost glowed. She had to breathe, to keep up with the others, just a moment more and the song was over.

Val squeezed hard her drumsticks and restrained from playing any more. She breathed heavily when Tucker slid a switch to the end and the music faded.

The flickering of the lights stopped, Tucker’s mixing console had probably just eaten so much energy it had interrupted the flow of electricity. Val wouldn’t know, she wasn’t a techno geek like him. 

Danny was first to break the silence.

“Nice job, Val”, he said and offered her a weak smile. He was still catching his breath. Val nodded, dumbfounded.

“Agreed”, Tucker adjusted his beanie. “Impressive much, you made it through with only a couple of mistakes. Few more shots and we’ll be good to go.”

“Do you think we should perform live?” Sam asked. She had her arms and legs crossed and hadn’t moved an inch from the couch. It took few seconds from Val to realize the question was meant for her.

“Of course! It’d be awesome! I didn’t know Danny could- ah, I mean I didn’t know you sing”, Val nodded at Danny. “You’d be super popular. I think half of Casper High would pay anything to get to a Reversed concert.”

“That’s the problem”, Sam snapped. “We don’t want to be recognized at school. We’re not doing this for fame or money.”

“But you still want to perform?” Val verified. Danny nodded. “So that’s the case… If you ask me, I’d still be down for it.”

Tucker broke a smile, the first today. “I said she’d get it! We just need disguises, something to cover our faces with. I suggested bandanas and sunglasses, but Sam didn’t buy it.”

Val imagined the crew with bandanas tied on their faces and laughed out loud. She missed pink hue that creeped on Danny’s cheeks when he watched her. Without any ceremonies Valerie was accepted into the group and became a part of Reversed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the word choices, I'm really not familiar with music terminology xd


End file.
